Page 4 - Conclusion
Noctua's reputation has been exceptional for as long as I can remember. The excellent build quality of the fans and their near silent operation has cemented them as the choice for enthusiasts. As you may have seen on the forums, we are excited to review their new lineup of air coolers they recently showed off. But before we get ahead of ourselves, do these fans continue Noctua's reputation of excellence? Yes, in my opinion, they definitely do. Will they induce the satisfying feelings of an upgrade? Definitely so -- and potentially for years and years to come. Starting with the materials used, Noctua boasts a well-designed frame surrounding the impellers. Furthermore, the many different features of the fan, including built in sound dampeners, work well together to ensure the fan operates quietly. Noctua has taken the extra step to enclose their SSO2 bearing in a metal shell, which may add to the weight of the fan, but also to the quality feel. The SSO2 bearings have proven to be quiet and reliable in the long run. Noctua even backs this up with a six-year warranty, meaning the company is confident in the reliability of the product they have made. Moving on to performance, each version of the NF-A12x25 fans kept the tissue paper floating, both close to the fan and far away from it. Only the ULN did not provide the most conclusive results, but this is most probably due to the lower RPM. Most enthusiast computers will require some more power, which the FLX and PWM versions will afford especially considering you can just cap its maximum speed if you are concerned about noise. On top of that, the fans were silent throughout the tests, scoring very well in our subjective sound tests. The price for the NF-A12x25 comes in at $30 USD each, which is definitely expensive for a fan. But considering its performance and quality, you pay for what you get. Noctua has yet again delivered a fan that achieves amazing performance without compromising on silence.
Noctua provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM
APH Recommended Award | APH Review Focus Summary:
9/10 means Excellent product with very minor drawbacks that do not affect the overall product.
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 8.5/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
Noctua NF-A12x25 FLX
APH Recommended Award | APH Review Focus Summary:
9/10 means Excellent product with very minor drawbacks that do not affect the overall product.
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 8.2/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
Noctua NF-A12x25 ULN
APH Review Focus Summary:
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 8.0/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
Setting the bar high, Noctua delivers top performing fans with silent operation.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware
3. Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
